Giving Their Word: Conversations with Contemporary Poets

Beginning in 1979 and continuing for over two decades, I was a monthly
contributor to the Christian Science Monitor newspaper and their syndicated
radio programs. I wrote reviews on contemporary poetry for their “Books”
page and essays and poems for an eclectic two-page section called “Home
Forum. ” My editors at the Forum usually allowed me great latitude in the
subjects I could tackle and this included Alice Hummer, my editor at the
close of 1990. I had just completed a year-long series centering on my work
as a poet-in-residence in Massachusetts schools. The stories had been quite
well received and perhaps that emboldened my thinking. So one morning
I visited her office with a new proposal.

I envisioned an open-ended series of poetry interviews featuring both the
prominent names in contemporary writing and emerging talents. I said I
intended to explore some of the enduring themes within each poet's work
and to make the connection between a poet's creation and the daily lives of
all readers, not just the small percentage who were brave enough to visit the
poetry section of their local bookshop. I listed a host of such essential
experiences: the family and the importance of relationship; the natural world
and our sense of place; the province of memory and the recording of living
history; the imagination and the power to name. These poetic concerns were
in fact human concerns and played a significant role in shaping our daily
lives. I argued the position—easily refuted at the time by book sales and

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